Reaction: The NRE as the new architect

Over at the Packet Pushers, Anthony Miloslavsky suggests that network architects have outlived their usefulness, so it is time to think of a new role. He describes a role called the “NRE” to replace the architect; the NRE would—

…spend no less than 50% of their time focusing on automation, while spending the other 50% deeply embedded in the operations/engineering/architecture realms of networking. They participate in an on-call rotation to stay in touch with the ops side of the house, with a focus on “treating operations as if it’s a software problem” in response. NREs would provide a expert big picture view of BOTH the development/automation and network operation/design sides of the house.

The author goes on to argue that we need someone who will do operations, engineering, architecture, and development because “pure architecture” folks tend to “lose touch” with the operations side of things. It is too easy to “throw a solution over the cubicle wall” without considering the implementation and operational problems. But, as a friend used to ask of everything when I was still in electronics, will it work? I suspect the answer is no for several reasons.

First, there is no such person as described, and Continue reading

Lasers could power computers wirelessly

A thin beam of invisible laser light has been used to safely charge a smartphone across a room. The experiment by researchers at the Univeristy of Washington lends credence to the futuristic idea that one day all computers could operate without any plugs or wires — that’s both for data and power.The revolutionary smartphone-charging laser system, which functions from up to 40 feet away, detects devices through inaudible acoustic chirps, according to its desginers at the university. It then zaps a couple watts of power at them using laser beams. Importantly, it does it safely and is potentially scalable to computers.To read this article in full, please click here

Webinar Recap: The Docker Platform on Windows – from 101 to Modernizing .NET Apps

 Windows

Our live Docker webinars are always hugely popular. Last month we hosted a session on Docker and Windows containers, covering everything from the basics to how you can use the  Docker platform (Docker Enterprise Edition and Docker Desktop)  to modernize existing .NET apps and move them to the cloud.

The recording is available now – it clocks in at 60 minutes and has lots of demos showing you how to build and run Windows applications in containers with Docker for Windows:

The sample code, Dockerfiles and Docker Compose files for all the demos are here on GitHub.

In fact there were so many demos, I ran out of time for the Q&A part – so here are the unanswered questions we had from viewers:

Q. Are there any best practices or tutorial to architect sql databases in containers? What about data persistence, database references etc? How can we use SSDT with containers?

SQL Server running in a container is just like any remote SQL Server – you can connect with SSDT or Visual Studio or VS Code or any SQL client. There’s a good SQL Server in Docker tutorial on GitHub which walks through the build and deployment process with containers, and Continue reading

Aruba CTO says IoT is great fun to work on

Not everybody in business IT seems like they’re having a great time at their job, but Aruba CTO Partha Narasimhan is an exception. He sat down with Network World at the company’s 2018 Atmosphere conference in Las Vegas to talk IoT, onboarding and more.Like company president Keerti Melkote, Narasimhan noted that Aruba’s experience in onboarding devices during the era of BYOD being an issue has stood it in good stead for IoT, but he said that the technical challenge is far greater.+ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: Getting grounded in intent-based networking + Aruba co-founder: We want to live on the edgeTo read this article in full, please click here

Malicious IoT hackers have a new enemy

IoT security is about the farthest thing from a laughing matter in the world of technology today, threatening global trade, privacy and the basic infrastructure of modern society. So you could be forgiven for being taken aback that the newest defender of vulnerable systems against bad actors looks a little like Johnny 5 from the movie Short Circuit.Researchers at Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering rolled out the HoneyBot robot late last week. In essence, it’s a canary in the digital coal mine, offering an early warning that someone is trying to compromise an organization’s systems.To read this article in full, please click here

Malicious IoT hackers have a new enemy

IoT security is about the farthest thing from a laughing matter in the world of technology today, threatening global trade, privacy and the basic infrastructure of modern society. So you could be forgiven for being taken aback that the newest defender of vulnerable systems against bad actors looks a little like Johnny 5 from the movie Short Circuit.Researchers at Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering rolled out the HoneyBot robot late last week. In essence, it’s a canary in the digital coal mine, offering an early warning that someone is trying to compromise an organization’s systems.To read this article in full, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Addressing IoT security with DNS and DNSSEC

We are witnessing a huge explosion in the number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices as a growing number of new “smart” consumer items, appliances, and vehicles are brought to market. While these devices introduce conveniences and enable new exciting applications and experiences, they introduce a high level of security risk to business and consumer networks. This is because manufacturers are frequently lax when it comes to the security implications of deploying smart connected devices in the wild.So why does IoT pose a potential risk to consumers? These devices fall under the “set it and forget it” bucket. They are typically easy to set up – you connect them to whatever network or networks you use regularly and then you don’t have to think about the devices again. Consumers are focused on functionality instead of the way the devices are communicating with the outside world, about updates to the devices, or about the network security characteristics of the devices.  To read this article in full, please click here

Episode 25 – MPLS Part 1

In a new protocol deep-dive series, Nick Russo and Russ White return to discuss MPLS. In part one, we discuss the primary use cases for MPLS, label allocation, and what SD-WAN means for the future of MPLS.

Show Notes:

  1. MPLS solves 3 fundamental problems, individually or in concert
    1. Multi-tenancy/VPNs
    2. Traffic engineering
    3. Fast reroute
  2. 4 bytes in a shim header, technically not a label, but we call it that
    1. 20 bits for label value, 2^20 ~= 1 million values (this is important)
    2. 3 bits for EXP, QoS really
    3. 1 S-bit to signal bottom of stack
    4. 8 bits TTL
  3. Label depth is theoretically infinite, but some HW platforms have a tolerance
  4. Many ways to allocate labels
    1. LDP transport
    2. LDP pseudowire
    3. BGP labeled unicast
    4. BGP based IP VPNs (VPNv4/v6)
    5. BGP pseudowire
    6. SR (really built into OSPF and ISIS for distribution)
    7. RSVP-TE
  5. Some forward rules are worth mentioning (basic LDP/BGP-LU environment)
    1. If route learned via IGP/static, LDP label must be used
    2. If route learned via BGP, BGP label must be used
    3. No exceptions
  6. Penultimate Hop Popping: second to last hop removes topmost label when signaled with imp-null from last hop along a given LSP, saves a lookup
  7. Is MPLS is a tunnel or not:
    1. Continue reading

Startup Tackles Cloud Migration And Management Hassle

Enterprises can see cost and efficiency benefits when they migrate workloads into the cloud, but such moves also come with their share of challenges in complexity and management. This is particularly true as organizations embrace a compute environment that includes multiple clouds – both public and private – as well as one or more on-premises datacenters. True, the cloud enables businesses to easily scale up or down depending on the workloads they’re running, to pay for only the infrastructure they’re using rather than having to invest upfront in hardware, to put the onus of integration on the cloud providers, and …

Startup Tackles Cloud Migration And Management Hassle was written by Jeffrey Burt at The Next Platform.

Countries Consider Penalties for Spreading ‘Fake News’

A handful of countries have recently considered passing new laws or regulations to combat so-called fake news, with Malaysia adding penalties of up to six years in jail for distributors.

Malaysia’s controversial Anti-Fake News 2018 bill, which passed this week, also includes a fine of US$123,000. An earlier draft of the legislation included jail time of up to 10 years. Under the new law, fake news is “news, information, data and reports which is or are wholly or partly false,” as determined by Malaysian courts.

The new Malaysian law covers digital news outlets, including video and audio, and social media, and it applies to anyone who maliciously spreads fake news inside and outside the country, including foreigners, as long as Malaysia or its citizens are affected.

Eric Paulsen, cofounder and executive director of Malaysian civil rights group Lawyers for Liberty, called the new law “shocking.” “Freedom of speech, info & press will be as good as dead in Malaysia,” he tweeted in late March.

The law will create a chilling effect on free speech, Malaysia lawyer Syahredzan Johan wrote in TheStar.com. “While we may hope that the implementation of the bill will be transparent and fair, the Continue reading

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